Rihanna took a trip home to Barbados to celebrate the launch of her Fenty brand in the Caribbean, but fans fear she revealed her plans to quit music.
On Thursday (November 7), the billionaire singer-turned-entrepreneur marked the opening of the first two Fenty Beauty stores in her home country. The brand, launched in 2017, finally arrived in the Caribbean last month.
Fenty Beauty went on sale in nine Caribbean islands — Antigua, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Grenada, Sint Maarten and Saint Martin, and Trinidad and Tobago.
Amid the success of her brand and becoming a mother to two sons with rapper A$AP Rocky, the superstar songstress hasn’t dropped a project in nearly a decade. Fans have had a long wait for new music, clamoring for a follow-up to 2016’s Anti.
However, her speech at Fenty Beauty in Barbados led many fans to believe the album would not materialize because Rihanna is set to quit music.
“Music was the thing that got the attention, but God had other plans for me,” she said at the launch. “I was able to create in ways that were very sincere and genuine or organic and authentic to the things that I love. So it doesn’t even feel like a job.”
She continued, “I cannot express what this day means to me, to be able to celebrate with people that deserve it the most. Thank you to my country.”
Distraught fans shared the clip while expressing fears Rihanna is retiring from music.
“Yeah she’s done with music,” one fan wrote, while another added, “she is gone.”
A third fan suggested Rihanna “abandoned” her music fans, while others implored her to drop a farewell project. Check out the reactions at the end of the page.
Rihanna “Starting Over” On New Album
Meanwhile, Rihanna previously denied retirement rumors after fans got heated over a t-shirt slogan. However, she also revealed she had gone back to the drawing book with her ninth studio album.
“I’m starting over,” she said in June. “But I don’t want to neglect the songs that I have, so I actually want to go back and listen to stuff with new ears, with my new perspective and then see what applies and what I’m still in love with.”